GHSA-2jp7-wwpg-3p9w — ep_etherpad-lite
Fix: ether/etherpad#7905GHSA-2jp7-wwpg-3p9w is a Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in ep_etherpad-lite. A fix is available for ep_etherpad-lite — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Etherpad has stored XSS in HTML export via unescaped attribute-pool values
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-2jp7-wwpg-3p9w.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
ep_etherpad-litenpmDescription
Fix: PR #7905 (ether/etherpad).
getHTMLFromAtext in src/node/utils/ExportHtml.ts interpolates values from the exportHtmlAdditionalTagsWithData plugin hook into span data-<k>="<v>" without HTML-attribute escaping. The value comes verbatim from the pad attribute pool, which a pad editor controls via a crafted changeset (only author attributes are validated; moveOpsToNewPool -> AttributePool.putAttrib stores any value). With a bundled plugin that registers the hook (ep_font_color / ep_font_size), an attribute value such as " onload="alert(1) is exported as <span data-color="" onload="alert(1)"> and served as text/html, yielding stored XSS for any collaborator who opens the export.
Fix: escape the name and value via Security.escapeHTMLAttribute. PR #7905 also adds a startup warning when default/placeholder account or SSO credentials are configured (defense-in-depth, non-breaking).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | ep_etherpad-lite | all versions | 3.3.0npm install ep_etherpad-lite@3.3.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ep_etherpad-lite, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ep_etherpad-lite to 3.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-2jp7-wwpg-3p9w is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-2jp7-wwpg-3p9w in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.